beaujolais
Beaujolais is one of my favorite regions. My aunt moved there in 1987, and we regularly visited, driving around the beautiful, sleepy villages in the summer sun. I had no idea about the region's wines—I was only a teenager—but I knew my aunt would only ever order a glass of Beaujolais at a local restaurant.
At the time, over 50% of the wine was Beaujolais Nouveau, a style which both made and scarred Beaujolais's reputation. Based on a widespread European tradition of drinking wine to celebrate the end of harvest, Beaujolais Nouveau was commercialised to be sold globally as a youthful, gluggable wine. Before the 1960s, Beaujolais had struggled to recover from phylloxera and remained in the shadow of Burgundy. Beaujolais Nouveau brought the region to the world's attention, but also meant that the wines weren't taken seriously.
That's changed recently as there is a much greater appreciation of the quality wine being made by Beaujolais producers. The clear identity of Beaujolais helps—it's all Gamay. There are three regional tiers: Beaujolais for the simple wines, Beaujolais-Villlages for good quality wines on the slopes, and the Crus for very good quality wines in the hills. The Crus produce some of the finest wine in the world, though unfortunately they're getting more expensive.
Here are a couple of Beaujolais producers in the club:
Les Deux Flèches ("the two arrows") is a small-production project by two young wine educators in Burgundy, Nicholas Chaffurin and Jeremy Pourrey. Passionate about food and wine, they started up in 2015. Although not certified, they practice biodynamic farming to ensure they nurture the land as sensistively as possible. They make wine from two Beaujolais Crus, Moulin-à-Vent and Fleurie: blackpoolmatt's wine club currently has the Moulin-à-Vent. This is a Cru, named after the windmill which sits in the middle of the village, which produces sturdy, ageworthy wines not dissimilar to Pinot Noir and this is a classic example.
Domaine du Petit Pérou is run by fourth- and fifth-generation winemakers, Laurent and Hugo Thevenet (Hugo was born in 1995, but is already hands-on). Winemaking dates back to the nineteenth century, although it was only in the 1980s that production revived to the quality levels maintained today. There are 18ha of vineyards, mostly to Gamay in the Cru of Morgon, with some Chardonnay and Syrah also planted.
A father-son side project, "Tu m'tiens au jus" means “keep me in the loop”—or in the juice. The wine comes from vineyards across Beaujolais for a fresh, fun, youthful, immediate style. The average age of the vines is sixty years, giving the wine depth of flavor. Drink slightly chilled.
The two wines show the versatility of Beaujolais: it can be fun, it can be serious, and it can always be paired with many food pairings, from rich and meaty, to spicy Mediterranean, to cured meat. Either way, wines you can crack open when you feel like it.